Author: Boria Majumdar

At the Champions dinner last night, hosted for the winners of the Tata Mumbai marathon, we had a surprise guest. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Sons. Chandra Sir, as he is fondly known or called, has always been an active supporter of participative sport. In fact, at his behest, the Tata Group is currently the biggest supporter of distance running events across India. Mr. Chandrasekaran had missed the marathon in the morning and had another flight to catch late at night. And yet he decided to make it to the evening and catch up with Mo…

Boria Majumdar in Mumbai Hosting the Tata Mumbai Marathon for a fourth year, I have to say, is the most humbling experience. To see 62,000 runners on the streets of Mumbai early on Sunday morning, running for a cause, is one of the most unbelievable sights possible. My call time was 3am. But, to my surprise, half the city was awake. When I reached the stage next to the old Victoria Terminus, it was buzzing. The excitement was palpable. At 4:30am, the legendary Mo Farah joined me on stage. To think the man was child-trafficked at the age of 9…

Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma will address the media later today after the Champions Trophy team is chosen. The point is whether they will take some real questions and give some honest answers? For example, what’s the diagnosis on Jasprit Bumrah? Even if there is no timeframe for his return yet, surely there is a road map that has been planned. It has now been two weeks since Bumrah last bowled in Australia, and no one really knows what’s going on with him. While he tweeted saying he isn’t under bed rest, isn’t it fair to all tell his fans…

We are in the process of finalising an Olympic bid. And it is something our Honourable Prime Minister is very upbeat about. Yet, when it comes to staging events, we still leave a lot to be desired. In the ongoing India Open badminton in New Delhi, multiple players have mentioned to my colleague Gargi Raut that the facilities are below par. Gargi reported that the washrooms were filthy and unusable. She even sent us photographs, and it was clear that these aren’t facilities that are remotely adequate for an international event. While the Badminton Authority of India (BAI) did get…

Much is being said about leaks at the moment. How is it that dressing-room and team-management issues are regularly finding their way to the media in Indian cricket? ‘Leak’ and ‘gossip’ are the two buzzwords at the moment. Frankly, every exclusive story is a leak. If there were no leaks, there would be no exclusives. The entire industry would then work on press releases. No journalist would ever break a story and it would all be boring. It is only natural that a journalist would seek an exclusive. It is part of his or her job. When I recruit someone…

There have been a lot of news items floating around on Indian cricket over the last few days. Mostly, these have been gossip. Some, however, are relevant and raise a few eyebrows. For example, we have all made stories out of senior players joining practice with their state teams and agreeing to play Ranji Trophy. Yet, it is only natural that they’d do so, isn’t it? The Ranji Trophy is India’s premier domestic competition and it is only natural that everyone would play if there is no schedule clash. In fact, if someone doesn’t, that is news and not the…

There are 50 days to go for the third edition of the Trailblazers Conclave. And to think that India’s best athletes, able bodied and para, men and women, will all come together under one roof in Kolkata yet again has a sense of the unreal attached to it. And yet, it is true. From our 18-year-old world champion D Gukesh to the just-retired legend Ravichandran Ashwin, and India’s captain fantastic Harmanpreet Singh to the legendary Mary Kom and the lady on the comeback trail, Nikhat Zareen – the very best are all coming together for two-and-a-half days in March.…

Yesterday, on my show, there were a lot of questions and comments asking why it was that players like Jasprit Bumrah and some others would have to play the IPL. Why couldn’t they prioritise national duty over IPL? Most comments portrayed the IPL as a ruthless money-making exercise. The truth is that the IPL is the key to Indian cricket being what it is. The economic prowess of the BCCI stems from the IPL and the tournament is now India’s only global sports brand. It is an example of India’s soft power and, for once, the world looks at India…

Hardik Pandya is, and will continue to be, one of India’s go-to white-ball cricketers. He has captained India with success and also done well as skipper in franchise cricket. However, soon after the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, when many felt he would be appointed skipper, the selection committee opted for Suryakumar Yadav. The reason given was Hardik’s fitness being a concern. Unless he was a certainty for all games, it was not a risk worth taking. Surya, to be fair, has done an excellent job as skipper and his handling of Sanju Samson, for example, has helped get…

Finally, the wait is over and Mohammed Shami is back in India colours. From his perspective, it was an agonising last few weeks. Each time he stepped out to bowl for Bengal, there were talks that he was ready to be back. And yet things did not work out. He was desperate to play in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and may I say a fit Mohammed Shami in Sydney would have meant 160 could have been enough for India. He would have been India’s answer to Scott Boland and Jasprit Bumrah too would have got some much needed support. The skill…